Design-composer.



CHARLES P. COATES, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

DESIGN -COMPOSER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 17, 1914.

Application filed October 16, 1912. Serial No. 726,176.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that 1, CHARLES P. Cox'rrs, acitizen of the United States, and residing at Ft. Louis, in the State ofMissouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inDesign-Composers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a device for composing or developing designs.

In the design of wall paper, carpets. linoleums, etc., the design isfrequently made up of a number of like design elements which arearranged and combined in symmetrical relation to produce together acomposite design. Now it is difficultand in most cases impossible topredetermine whether a design made up of certain design elements will beartistic and pleasing. It is therefore necessary in practically everycase to complete the whole design in order to determine this fact. Sucha procedure when done by laying out the elements in symmetrical relationrequires a large amount of time. and this time is wasted when it isfound that the resultant design is not artistic and pleasing.

One of the objects of this invention therefore is to provide meanswhereby a composite design made up of a given design element may bequickly predetermined and viewed without requiring the entire design tobe laid out.

Another object is to provide a device which is simple in constructionand operation, cheap to manufacture and small in bulk.

Further objects will appear from the detail description taken inconnection with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a device embodying this invention,Fig. 2 is a side elevation, Fig. 3 is a front elevation, Fig. 4 is aplan view, Fig. 5 is a view looking in the direction of the arrow, Fig.2, Fig. 6 is a design element. and Fig. 7 is a composite design asformed from the design element, Fig. 6.

Referring to the accompanying drawing and more particularly to Figs. 1to 4 inclusive, the device as shown comprises a transparent prism ofclear glass. This prism is preferably triangular in form so as to formside faces or surfaces 10 and 11, a front face or surface 12, a base 13and a top face or surface L1. The faces 10, 11 and 13 form together asolid angle while the top surface 14 is positioned at an acute anglewith respect to the body of the prism so as to cut the surfaces formingthe solid angle, whereby the observer looking in the direction of thearrow Fig. 2 can see the corner 15 which forms the vortex of the solidangle and which is positioned opposite the surface 14. The base of theprism is preferably an equilateral triangle while the surface 14 ispreferably positioned at an angle of approximately 45" with respect tothe body of the prism, so that the observer when viewing the corner orvortex 15 will look in a direction normal to the surface 14. The sidefaces 10 and 11 will form reflecting surfaces or mirrors for an objectplaced underneath the prism when setting on its base 13.

Referring now to Fig. 5, which is a view looking in the direction of thearrow Fig. 2, 2O designates an object placed underneath the base 13 ofthe prism. Now an image 21 of the object 20 is formed behind the mirror10 while an image 22 is formed behind the mirror 11. The image 21 willin turn form the object of an image 23 behind the mirror 11, while theimage 22 will form the object of an image 24 behind the mirror 10. Theimages 23 and 24 will in turn form the objects of coinciding images 25behind the mirrors 10 and 11 respectively. It will therefore be observedthat if the device is placed over an object it will multiply that objectby forming a series of images, and that these images will be placed inradial relation with respect to the object and with the corner 15 as acenter so as to form together a composite design. The composite pictureor design will be practically symmetrical in form, and may be viewed asa whole by looking through the prism in the direction of the arrow Fig.2.

A practical example of a composite design formed with this device isshown in Figs. 6 and 7. If the prism is placed over the design element26 with the corner 15 just covering the extreme point 27 0f the elementand with the median line of the element positioned centrally of the base13, then if we look into the prism we see the resultant composite designas shown in Fig. 7. By moving the prism the design can be variedconsiderably. If for instance the prism is placed so as to cover the end27 while one of the base edges is placed on the median line of thedesign element, we will see a resultant design having only three designelements. The vertical edge 16 as well as the edges between the base 1and the faces 10 and 11 should be as sharp as possible in order not toblur the composite design. The object as well as the images are viewedthrough the glass prism, this will cause the whole composite design topresent a uniform appearance so that there will be no difference inbrightness between the different elements of the assembled design. Thedesign as viewed will therefore present practically the same appearanceas when finally laid out and used. By making the base an equilateraltriangle the images will be so positioned with respect to each other andwith respect to the object as to form together a complete compositedesign.

By using this device it is possible to quickly determine a compositedesign from any given design element, and the amount of work heretoforerequired in order to predetermine such a design is entirely done awaywith. The device can be moved over different surfaces and parts ofdesigns so as to find experimentally many artistic and pleasing designs.This experimental composing or finding of designs has not heretoforebeen possible with the methods as heretofore practised. The device maybe combined with the lens of-an ordinary camera so that the compositedesign may be thrown as an image on the plate or film of the camerawhereby this design may be photographed directly.

It is obvious that various changes may be made in the details ofconstruction within the scope of the claims without departing from thisinvention, and it is therefore to be understood that this invention isnot to be limited to the specific construction shown and described.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed is:

1. A device of the class described compris ing a solid transparent prismhaving a plurality of reflecting surfaces positioned in angular relationand adapted to form and relatively arrange a plurality of images to forma composite picture or design.

2. A device of the class described comprising a solid transparent prismhaving a plurality of reflecting surfaces positioned in angular relationand adapted to form a plurality of images of an object or element andrelatively arrange said images and said object or element to formtogether a composite picture or design.

3. A device of the class described comprising a solid prism having aplurality of surfaces positioned to form a solid angle, a plurality ofsaid surfaces forming reflecting surfaces adapted to form and relativelyarrange images of an object positioned under another of said surfaces toform a composite picture or design.

4. A device of the class described comprising a prism having a pluralityof reflecting surfaces and having its end surface arranged at an acuteangle with respect to the body of the prism to permit a corner of saidprism to be viewed through said end surface.

A device of the class described comprising a triangular prism having aplurality of reflecting surfaces and having its end surface arranged atan acute angle with respect to the body of the prism to permit thecorner opposite said surface to be viewed through the prism.

6. A device of the class described comprising a prism having a pluralityof surfaces positioned to form a solid angle. a plurality of saidsurfaces forming reflecting surfaces, said prism having a surfacecutting the surfaces forming said solid angle.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in the presence of twowitnesses.

CHARLES P. COATE S.

\Vitnesses J. H. BRUXINGA, R. E. \VHITAKER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

